Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Found this article and thought that I would share it with you. I have made cheese and butter but have never roasted my own coffee. Something that I might want to try in the future.

"Make Your Own" Hobby Guide

Oct, 2007

You already make your own beer. How about trying your hand making your own cheese or roasting your own coffee? The list of foods and beverages you can make yourself is almost limitless. Plus, when you make it yourself you get to craft it exactly how you like it. Check out these businesses that will help you "make your own".

THE COFFEE PROJECTNew to roasting? We've got home coffee roasting equipment, green beans and supplies. Take 10% off your first order by using the coupon code "cheers" when you order online before November 1st. Think outside the line. Call us at 1-800-779-7578 or visit our website.www.coffeeproject.com

New York (September 13, 2007) - "No other holiday celebrates the giftof wine like Thanksgiving," says Natalie MacLean, author of thebestselling book Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journeyfrom Grape to Glass. "Wine is a taste of the harvest along with all thedelicious dishes on the table. But actually choosing a bottle can feellike a thankless task, especially with so many flavors to match."

Relax. Have a drink. And try some of Natalie's suggestions for greatwines to pair with Thanksgiving turkey and all the trimmings. In Red,White and Drunk All Over, which will be published in paperback nextmonth, Natalie discusses wine and food pairing for Thanksgiving dinner.A new chapter in the book also addresses the five toughest matches forwine: vegetables, spicy dishes, chocolate, cheese, and fast food.

Natalie also offers five quick tips for choosing a terrific Thanksgiving wine:

1. Start with bubbly. Sparkling wine is a great aperitif to sip whileyou wait for the turkey to finish cooking. It adds a celebratory noteto the meal and goes well with starters like soup and salad.

2. Consider the turkey. Unlike most poultry and game birds, turkey meatis very dry in texture. So you need a mouth-watering wine to complementit. Good options are crisp whites like riesling and pinot grigio. Andyes you can drink red wine with white meat: pinot noir, beaujolais andzinfandel all have juicy, berry-ripe flavors that go well with turkey.

3. Look beyond the bird. The range of side dishes means that you don'thave to match your wine just to the turkey. Since Thanksgiving dinneris often a banquet-style meal, with everyone choosing the trimmings,why not do the same with your wines? Offer both red and white, andpossibly more than one depending on the size of your group.

4. Complement or contrast. A big, buttery chardonnay from California orChile can complement the roasted, smoky flavors of squash, chestnutsand pecan stuffing. But if you'd rather have a contrast to the richnessof cream sauces and dressings, try a crisp New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

5. End on a sweet note. If anyone still has room left when it's timefor pumpkin or pecan pie, offer a late harvest wine or icewine. Ifyou're a chocolate fan, try serving a liqueur with complementaryflavors such as raspberry or blackcurrant.

Natalie's online wine matching tool isn't just about Thanksgivingdinner: it allows you to pair wine with other seasonal fall produce,game meats, pizza, egg dishes, TV dinners, breads and desserts.Visitors simply search by wine for meal inspirations or by food to findgreat wine choices. The site has more than 364,000 food and winecombinations, as well as thousands of recipes for those planningholiday parties and Christmas turkey dinner.

The matching tool is updated regularly, as Natalie responds to herreaders' suggestions for more dishes and wines. Many of thesesuggestions come from the 78,000 subscribers to her free e-newsletter,Nat Decants, which offers tips on how to buy, cellar and serve wine.Got a dish or a wine to stump Natalie? E-mail her via the web site andshe'll suggest a match for you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

It's not beer and it's not wine, but making hard apple cider is always fun. You can do it the old fashioned way by pressing the apples or you can purchase the apple cider. If you purchase the cider, just make sure that there are no preservatives in it. Personally, I buy the apple cider from a local fruit market.

The recipe I found is from Sallys-Place.com and will make a 5 gallon batch. There is also an interesting history of hard cider on that site that is worth reading.

Enjoy the recipe and the reading.

Cidermaking is easy and fun. Here is a basic recipe for a Farmhouse Style cider (ingredients for five gallons):

Transfer the juice and sugar using a sanitized funnel or food grade plastic hose into a sanitized glass or stainless-steel container at room temperature. Allow the sugar to dissolve and then pitch the lager yeast and affix a fermentation lock atop the carboy It will soon begin to bubble away releasing carbon dioxide as the yeast converts the sugars into alcohol. Allow the cider to ferment and mellow for at least two months before transferring it with your sanitized food grade hose into bottles, a keg, or any vessel you prefer. Then enjoy. Any homebrew supply shop can get you started with the proper advice and equipment.

I was at a recent wine club meeting and one of the members was discussing how his beer has a soapy taste to it. A couple of us that make wine and beer tried to fiqure out what his problem was. We first thought it might be from soap residual in his glass. He assured us that it wasn't from that. We were stumped. So, I did a little research and found this.

Soapy flavors can caused by not washing your glass very well, but they can also be produced by the fermentation conditions. If you leave the beer in the primary fermentor for a relatively long period of time after primary fermentation is over ("long" depends on the style and other fermentation factors), soapy flavors can result from the breakdown of fatty acids in the trub. Soap is, by definition, the salt of a fatty acid; so you are literally tasting soap.

And to confirm that it could be caused be leaving your beer too long in the fermenter I found this.

You have left the fermenting beer in the first brewing process too long (bucket). You should have checked the gravity reading and barrelled soon after the reading became stable at the correct range (depends on beer type).

At this stage of the game, I don't think there is anything that can be done to fix this problem other than mixing it with tomato juice and drinking it. Generally, I don't leave the fermenting wort in the primary for more than 7 days and most times it is around 5 days. Probably the reason that I never encountered this problem.

Well, if you have a soapy taste in your beer, check the glass first and then check your brewing records to see how long you left the wort in the primary fermenter.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Thought that I would experiment with some video and found this series at YouTube.com. I like the way he takes ordinary household items to make his wine. Just goes to show you that you don't need to spend a lot of money to get started. Hope you enjoy.